Little did Estelle “Stella” Francois know that in 1936 she would leave behind a legacy that continues to this day. Before that fateful move, Stella—the daughter of Belgian immigrants—worked as a mail carrier between Greeley and Spalding. It was a route she took over in 1929 after her father, Edmund, passed away.
After getting married, Stella moved to Bellevue with her husband, Alvin Sullivan, and their children. While they operated a service station at the intersection of Betz Road and Lloyd Street, she converted one of the three bedrooms in their home into a small tavern she called Francois and Sullivan.
When Alvin passed away in 1939, she faced the daunting prospect of raising four children on her own while also running the service station and tavern, which she relocated next door. After selling the station, she moved the building that housed the tavern to an old dairy farm on Galvin Road that she purchased in 1949. By this time, she had changed the name of her business to Stella’s.
With her children grown, Stella married Dean Tobler in 1959 and continued focusing on her restaurant, which proved popular with local residents and airmen stationed at Offutt Air Force Base. Due to health concerns, she turned full-time management of the bar and grill over to her son, Al Jr., and his wife, Mary, in 1974. Even though she wasn’t as actively involved, she famously managed to put out a fire in 1976 after climbing onto the roof at age 71.
Described as “a remarkable lady who built a successful business based on integrity, hard work, and a willingness to serve others,” Stella passed away in 1985. The business continued to thrive under her son’s ownership until he retired in 2007. By that point, it remained a family-owned restaurant operated by Stephanie, Pam, and Gene Francois. Meanwhile, Al, who ran the restaurant for 33 years, passed away in 2021.
While the building remains the same, nearly everything except the grill has been replaced over the years, including windows, bathrooms, and tables. Outside, they added new landscaping, planted a garden to provide fresh vegetables for the burgers, and replaced the gravel with concrete.
In recent years, the restaurant has become known for its Stellanator challenge, in which participants attempt to eat a 4¾-pound burger consisting of six hamburger patties, six eggs, 12 strips of bacon, peanut butter, and other toppings—plus a side of fries. If you finish in 45 minutes, your picture goes on the Wall of Fame. Fail, and you end up on the Wall of Shame.
Nearly nine decades later, Stella’s fresh burgers—rolled into a 6½-ounce ball and hand-pressed onto a well-seasoned cast-iron grill—remain just as popular as ever. They have been named the best by Omaha Magazine, the Nebraska Beef Council, and others. The restaurant still operates under the same philosophy: good food doesn’t need to be fancy. To that end, the burgers are still served on paper napkins.
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